Martin C. Barry
Quebec Culture and Communications Minister Nathalie Roy announced nearly $3.7 million in provincial subsidies for 16 of Quebec’s science-based museums during an outdoor press conference held at the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles in Laval’s Sainte-Rose district on Tuesday July 7.
Good news, says Groulx MNA
“The government of Quebec is happy to support museum instititions with scientific and technological vocations in the relaunch of their activities,” Éric Girard, Minister of Finance in the CAQ government and MNA for the North Shore riding of Groulx, said in a statement.
“The economic relaunch plan tabled by the Ministry of Culture and Communications and the Finance Ministry, which was implemented in June, has as its goal to see that the cultural domain is well equipped to deal with the consequences of this pandemic crisis, while becoming once again an important economic driver in Quebec,” the Finance Minister added.
Four Laval museums
Four of the institutions are located in Laval. They are the Centre d’interprétation de l’eau (in Sainte-Rose), the Musée Armand-Frappier on the eastern edge of Chomedey, the Cosmodôme in central Laval, and the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles.
While some of the museums (such as the Zoo Ecomuseum at the western tip of Montreal Island in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue) are located within the Montreal region, many others are located in more isolated but picturesque rural regions of the province, such as Gaspésie and the Eastern Townships, where tourism is currently in need of a big boost in the aftermath of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More support coming
The institutions in Laval are receiving a total of $950,000 from the package. According to the Culture and Communications Ministry, additional sums to be awarded to the museums across Quebec over the next four years will raise the amount of subsidies to $20 million over that period.
Another $5.03 million will be available during the same period to the 16 institutions as part of the government’s overall post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan, the ministry added. The provincial government has also been providing subsidies to more than 100 museums of various themes and types in Quebec.
Improving knowledge
“It is with great pleasure that I greet the announcement of this financial assistance destined for museums and institutions with scientific and technological vocations,” said Sainte-Rose CAQ MNA Christopher Skeete, who is the CAQ government’s delegated representative for the province’s English-speaking community.
“Thanks to this support, institutions in our region, such as the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles and the Centre d’interprétation de l’eau, which are both located in the riding of Sainte-Rose, will be able to pursue their activities and their mission to the great enjoyment of all Quebecers,” added Skeete. “They will thus continue to shine a spotlight on Laval within Quebec’s scientific museum landscape.”
Help during pandemic
“Our government recognizes the essential need for scientific museums in terms of the role they play in education, research, understanding and conservation,” said the Culture and Communications Minister. “In the context of the current pandemic, I wanted to see that we acted quickly in order to financially support these museum institutions which were made vulnerable by the pandemic crisis.
“Their mission is in line with our goal to see that Quebec’s culture, of which were are proud, gets promoted and is made accessible,” she continued. “And so we will be pleased to support them over the course of the next five years.”
Take a look at the
featured Local Savings
at the bottom of this page!
